We’re sort of like a rainbow of color if we take all the fruits of the spirit to school with us. Equipped with all the fruits mentioned in Galatians 5:22-23, God’s love can shine through us. In this Bible object lesson, children will create rainbows to illustrate the fruits of the spirit!

Bible Object Lesson: Taking All of God with You to School

Household Object:

Box of Crayons

Other Materials Needed:

8 colorful crayons for demonstration;

big basket of crayons (many colors) for students to use

construction paper (1 sheet for each student)

marker pens for writing

Bible Object Lesson Preparation

Have students seated at a table. Give each a piece of construction paper and put the crayons in the middle where all can reach. Give each child a dark colored marker. Sit with your own piece of paper at the head of the table.

Bible Object Lesson (in teachers’ words):

Most of you have been to the store by this point to get your school supplies. How many of you included a box of crayons? Most will say yes.

Crayons were always among my favorite school supplies! I just love color. And today, we’re going to use the colors to help us remember different ways we can show God’s love in school.

School can be a bit tough, because a lot of kids are not thinking about God at all. As Christians, we have to fit in with all of that… yet here’s what will be important for us all year long:

A. We want to remain Christians and act like Christians;

B. We want others to see God’s love in us.

Galatians 5:22-23 can help us in school if we remember the fruits of the spirit.

The first is love.

Draw the first arc in your rainbow in red.

Love means treating others as you would want to be treated.

Write LOVE at the bottom of your arc in small letters going downward.

Allow students to follow along on their own papers, doing what you’ve done for this and other colors below. Emphasize that they don’t need to use the same colors as you (or they’ll spend a lot of time passing around crayons or searching for the same colors). Draw in comments or examples from them as you go along, but keep things moving!

Next is joy.

Draw the second arc in your rainbow in orange.

Joy means going around with a smile on your face. The famous writer George Eliot said, “Wear a smile and have friends; wear a scowl and have wrinkles.” We could all use more friends.

Write JOY at the bottom of your arc in small letters going downward.

Next is Peace.

Draw the third arc in your rainbow in yellow.

If people are arguing, try to make peace. Remember the proverb: “A soft answer turns away anger.” If someone says something mean and you answer back nicely anyway, you can end a fight most easily.

Write PEACE at the bottom of your arc in small letters going downward.

Next is Patience.

Draw the fourth arc in your rainbow in green.

You have to have an awfully lot of patience with school. You have to wait for others, finish work when you’d rather be playing…You can think “I’m practicing God’s patience!” when you have to wait for things.

Write PATIENCE at the bottom of your arc in small letters going downward.

Kindness and goodness are sort of alike.

Draw the fifth arc in your rainbow in blue.

Both involve being nice to people—even when they’re aggravating you! That’s hard, but Jesus managed to be kind and good, even when he was dying on the cross. He said, “Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.” If we could be that kind, the world would be a much more peaceful place.

Write KIND and GOOD at the bottom of your arc in small letters going down.

Next is Faithfulness.

Draw the sixth arc in purple.

Faithfulness means that you forgive your friends when they hurt or annoy you. You don’t gossip about them. You don’t find new friends every time there’s a disagreement. You stay faithful to them.

Write FAITHFULNESS at the bottom of your arc in small letters going down.

Next is gentleness.

Draw the seventh arc in brown.

School can be a really loud place. As Christians we don’t want to add to the wrong kind of loudness. We don’t want to interrupt or speak loudly to outdo someone. Gentleness means we don’t want to push and shove.

Write GENTLENESS at the bottom of your arc in small letters going down.

Last but not least: Self control.

Draw the eighth arc in pink.

Self control means keeping your hands to yourself, not yelling when someone upsets you, and definitely not hurting feelings.

Write SELF CONTROL at the bottom of your arc in small letters going down.

These are what Galatians calls the fruits of the spirit.

Write Fruits of the Spirit Rainbow across the top of your paper. Let the students do the same.

Let’s post these on our bedroom wall when we get home, somewhere that we’ll see them first thing when we wake up. Or maybe try the ceiling! If we practice two of them at a time for a whole day, after a month, we ought to be very good at them!

Draw a sun to the side of your rainbow. And then, the love of God will be able to shine through us!

Do you think your children will enjoy this Bible object lesson? Feel free to share your thoughts and comments below! And don’t forget to Become a Fan on Facebook, and Follow Me on Twitter, where I will share more great Sunday school lesson ideas!